The Accused’s Right of Access to the Materials of the Case in Private Prosecutions in Cyprus and Directive 2012/13/EU: A Comment on Reference to the Application of Ostia Developers Ltd et al., Political Request No. 171/2019 (9 October 2019)

In Reference to the Application of Ostia Developers Ltd et al., the High Court of Cyprus dealt with the issue of whether an accused in a private prosecution has a right to access the materials of the case. The Court held that under Article 7 of Directive 2012/13/EU and section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Law, the accused did not have such a right. It is argued, inter alia, that although Article 7 of Directive 2012/13/EU does not refer to private prosecutors, a purposive interpretation of Article 7 of Directive 2012/13/EU would impose the obligation in question on private prosecutors. It is also argued that there could be a need to amend Article 7 of Directive 2012/13/EU to expressly impose the obligation on a private prosecutor to disclose materials of the case to an accused.